


You're Not Alone Anymore

by thejollymilano



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-26 18:59:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13863957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thejollymilano/pseuds/thejollymilano
Summary: Rocket wakes up from nightmares all the time - one night Peter witnesses.





	You're Not Alone Anymore

Nightmares were not uncommon or unusual for Rocket. Ever since he could remember, he’s always had them. Those horrid dreams are usually about what those fucks did to him as an experiment.

After flying the Milano for most of the night, he decided to put it on auto pilot and rest his eyes for a bit - who knew what they’d be doing in a few hours? Probably kicking some new asshole’s ass.

He didn’t want to go to his room as they were still up in the air and Quill was off somewhere on the ship so instead he sat in a chair at the table in the “kitchen” area. Determined to sleep for a few minutes, he rested his head on the table and rather quickly, sleep overcame the exhausted guardian.

* * *

_He was running. His heart was pacing. His breathing jagged. He could hear the footsteps of the scientists behind him, alarms blaring in the distance._

_“Get back here!”_

_“You’re mine, you little runt!”_

_“There’s no where for you to run.”_

_“Rocket, wake up,” this voice sounded distant and familiar, but he couldn’t focus. All he wanted to do, all he needed to do, all he was trying to do was get away from that place_.

_He could see it: the exit sign above the door. It was close. He was almost there - almost free._

_“Rocket. Wake up, buddy! C’mon, man,” the faint voice spoke again. It sounded closer this time though. And that scared the shit outta him - what if it was one of the bastard scientists?_

_“No!” Rocket shouted, still running ever closer to the door, the sight of freedom being etched into his mind, making him run faster, his throat dry and scratchy._

_“Get back here!”_

_“Somebody catch him!”_

_“No!” He shouted out again._

“ _Rocket!”_

“ _No!”_

_“Rocket! Wake up!”_

_His claws grasped the door handle on the exit door, opened it, a seemingly bright light overpowering his eyesight._

He woke to find that the familiar, distant voice belong to none other than Peter Quill.

* * *

Peter’s hand was still on Rocket’s shoulder from when he shook him awake. Rocket sat up suddenly, his wide, fearful eyes looking straight into Peter’s steady gaze.

“Rocket?” Quill said softly, noticing Rocket was still breathing heavily. “You okay, man?”

‘ _Crap. Crap, crap, crap_ …’ Rocket thought, his eyes unfocused and darting around, looking for something to distract himself with, to calm him down. No one besides Groot has seen him have a nightmare before - and for  _Starmunch_  of all people to be one of the first? It was unbearable.

“‘m fine!” Rocket huffed, his heart still racing. He couldn’t get the imagine of those d’ast scientists out of his head.

Quill gave him a disbelieving look, “I was walking into to get a drink and check on how it’s going up in the front, and I came to hearing you shouting bloody murder. I don’t call that ‘fine.’”

“Just leave it!” He snarled, obviously not wanting to get into a discussion over his horrifying upbringing.

“Rocket. C’mon, talk to me, man.”

“Just shut up,” Rocket mumbled and wiped his itchy eyes, noticing his fur was damp. He crying. In front of Quill. ‘ _Flark it…’_

“You know, I’d have nightmares of the night I left earth. About my mom dying in front of me. I still do sometimes,” Peter said. Rocket’s ears perked up at this - normally he would make a snarky comment, but right now, he didn’t feel like it. He was too vulnerable - both of them were. “Bad dreams aren’t uncommon for me neither. So I’m just saying that if you ever wanna talk about, you know I’m here, right? Gamora and Drax, too. We’re all here for you, buddy.”

Rocket’s ears flicked at this. Sure, he knew the gang always had his back, like how he had theirs (though he would never admit out loud) - they’re a family after all. Although despite all they’ve been through, all he’s learned about the rest of the team, Rocket has barely talked about what those experiments were like. Not unless he was drunk at least. Of course, he didn’t like talking about it in the first place- it was a very painful part of his past.

_‘We’re all here for you.’_

Rocket, though acting like he didn’t care, always listened to them about their painful pasts. He didn’t like this idea much, but maybe, just maybe he should let someone listen to him, too. A someone that wasn’t Groot, who after all, was still a baby.

“What are yours like?” Peter prodded, though Rocket had a feeling that he already knew the answer but just wanted to see what he would say.

Rocket swallowed and hesitated before answering, “Y’know … That lab. Those flarked up scientists. The …” he hesitated again. “The  _experiments_.” Peter scooted a little closer in his chair, fully attentive and eyes focused on Rocket’s, even though Rocket’s eyes were darting at the floor nervously. “I-I’ve been dreaming lately of that day that I escaped ….”

He heard Peter catch his breath a little. Rocket looked up and met Peter’s eyes, only to see comfort and support - the opposite of what he expected.

“I don’t remember exactly how it went down …” Rocket continued, eyes now looking at this claws. “But I just knew I couldn’t look back and that I couldn’t get caught by them again.”

After he was done talking, silence filled the room. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence though - it was calm, respectful, giving the time both of them needed to comprehend everything from the past few minutes. Some time passed before Quill spoke again.

“Thanks, Rocket, for talking about that. Really. I know that opening up about stuff like that is hard - hell, it took me forever to talk about my mom. But trust me when I say we’re all here for you. And if you’re not ready to tell the others about it yet, you can talk to Groot or myself.”

“Groot’s a toddler though … I don’t want to  _burden_  him when he’s still so little …” Rocket mumbled.

“Then you can talk to me,” Peter said. “Or don’t talk. You can just come by my room or anywhere I am where the others aren’t, and we can listen to my music. And don’t say you don’t like my music, I  _know_ you do,” (Rocket rolled his eyes at this, but didn’t deny it).

“I need to you trust me on what I’m about to do here,” Peter continued. “ _Please_  don’t bite or scratch me or do anything that could really hurt, okay?” Rocket looked at him cautiously, but didn’t back away. “I‘m going to hug you now.”

“W-what?” Rocket stuttered before Quill leaned in and wrapped his arms around the small creature. But to his own surprise, he didn’t fight back. This felt … comforting. “W-what are you doing?”

“As a Terran kid growing up with a ship full of Ravagers, when I had nightmares, there was no one I could really talk to or who really comforted me. It’s hard going through that alone,” Peter mumbled. “But you’re not alone anymore. And neither am I.”

_“We’re all here for you.”_

_“That thing you’re searching for your whole life, sometimes it’s right there by your side all along and you don’t even know it.”_

_“He didn’t chase them away.” “No.” “Even though he yelled at them. And was always mean. And stole batteries he didn’t need.” “Well of course not.”_

“Quill?” Rocket murmured into Peter’s hard chest.

“What is it, buddy?”

“Thanks.”


End file.
